Events

The 5th International Symposium "Prospects for Asian Regional Integration" (December 2nd)
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2011.12.04

Symposium Objectives

As we enter the 21st century, although there are twists and turns in the path of history, it is clear that cross-border activities in the economic, social, cultural and information fields are rapidly expanding in Asia, as in the rest of the world. This has been accompanied by an equally dramatic increase in de facto intraregional cooperation. In the economic field, multinational corporations are playing a central role in such cooperation, leading to advances in international division of labor in manufacturing, sales, and product development, and their profit-making activities transcend national borders. On the other hand, in the security field, given the continuing disagreements among Asian countries on interpretation of history and failure to resolve territorial disputes and related sovereignty conflicts over maritime jurisdiction, the creation of a security framework beyond alliances is difficult. However, progress is being made, even in Asia, in the creation of cooperative frameworks to deal with common “global problems,” such as the issues of terrorism, proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, human rights, food shortage/distribution, the environment and energy, natural disasters, infectious diseases and so on, which have been exacerbated by the advancement of globalization and development of the regional economy. Bilateral, multilateral, and linkages/cooperation between multiple regional actors in these non-traditional security areas have developed and deepened beyond the traditional military security frameworks.

The current trends by no means represent straightforward progression towards regional integration and remain, as before, a manifestation of a fluid and unstable evolution. It is incumbent upon us today to develop stable societies in Japan, in Asia, and, indeed, the world.

It is against the backdrop of these global trends and awareness of the issues concerned that the Global Institute for Asian Integration (GIARI) program has, over the past five years starting in 2007, conducted research related to cooperation and integration in the Asian region and worked to cultivate human resources. GIARI has covered a broad range of fields including diplomacy, security, trade, finances, the environment, human rights, history, and education, and employed an interdisciplinary approach. At the same time, GIARI has worked to nurture highly-skilled individuals who will be poised to contribute to regional cooperation and integration in Asia. The ultimate goal of this program is to understand and analyze regional integration and regional cooperation in Asia from an interdisciplinary, holistic, and comprehensive standpoint and to synthesize this into an “Asian regional integration theory.”

This symposium represents the culmination of five years of GIARI research. Although there will be many twists and turns on the road to regional integration in Asia, we must take on the challenge to promote it. We are determined to make this a meaningful forum by deepening our discussion on the current situation and future prospects of regional integration in Asia based on the reports presented by our project researchers. We welcome your participation in this symposium and look gratefully forward to your opinions, views, and guidance.